The influence of community walking adaptability on service level and urban spatial equality: A case study of sports service in three districts of Shanghai

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown that physical activity in walkable communities reduces the risk of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCD). The Chinese government advocates the construction of 15-minute walking blocks to provide citizens with a 15-minute walk to access basic public services, ultimately improving walking behavior and overall health. Based on the walking score index, this paper proposes an improved method to measure the adaptability of neighborhood walking and applies it to Shanghai, China. Based on the physical education resource allocation requirements of the community, the assessment takes into account the walking needs of different pedestrian groups (i.e.,the entire population, senior, children), physical fitness facility attributes (size and category) and actual traffic conditions. The results show that there are significant differences in the scores of community walking trips among different pedestrian groups. On the whole, the communities with high walking score mainly concentrated in the central city; And hard-to-walk neighborhoods are scattered in the outer suburbs. The overall population and the elderly showed higher walking ability for more neighborhoods and lower walking ability when viewed from the perspective of the children group. This study provides a reference for future studies to evaluate various aspects of neighborhood walking adaptability. It is necessary to pay attention to the social inequality caused by different neighborhood walking adaptability, and to intervene in the planning and implementation of building healthy communities in China.